Process of recovering materials from waste.



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W. H. ALLEN. PROCESS OF REGOVERING MATERIALS PROM WASTE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3 1908.

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Patented Dec. 28, 1909.

ILLIAM n. ALLEN, or pnrnorr, nIcnIeAN.

PROCESS OF RECOVERING MATERIALS FRbM WAS TE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1909.

Application filed August 3, 1908. Serial No. 446,570. a

. To all 'teho m it may concern:

, Be it known that I, WILLInM H. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and.

State of Michigan, have invented a new .andIm roved Process for Recovering Materials rom Waste, of which the following is a specification. I

In the bufiing and polishing of brass, copper, bronze and other'metals, by means of emery, rouge, tripoli and other abrasive materials, wheels made from disks of cotton or other cloth secured together are employed. The abrasive grains and powders are held in a paste by soapy or other fats, sometimes molded in cakes or sticks, adapted to be held against the surfaces of the Wheels until such surfaces becomeimpregnatedwith the gritty fats, The wheels wear off rapidly and a smeary .black substance accumulates, often at the rate of several pounds per wheel perday, which when the wheel isused on copper or copper castings has been found to consist of about'12 to 18% of metal, 20%

of fats, 20% of cotton and the remainder of gut.

The object of this invention is to provide.

separate by gravity, removing the floating fibrous material, separating the metals from the grits, and recoveringthe fats.

invention further consists in agitatingthe'waste products from buifing and polishwing wheels in a solution of alkali in water g of a tank showing the fittings.

by means of jets of air or steam entering the receptacle containing the solution through the bottom or sides near the bottom, whereby the lighter textile materials are caused to rise to the surface while the heavy minerals and metals sink. M

In the accompanying drawing, Figure -1 is a cross-section of a tank on line A-A of Fig. 2. Fig.- 2 is'a view of the bottom end Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughmt the several views.

' In carrying out this process for separating and recovering the various substances forming the waste from polishing and bufiing wheels, I em loy a kettle or tank of any desired size, suc as the tank 1 shown in the drawings, and provide inlets in the bottom for a number of small jets 2 for steam or compressed air. Similar .jets 3 may be introduced at the sides next the bottom, the object being to insure a thorough agitation of the contents of the tank,

The tank is artially filled with water holding an alkali such as carbonateof soda, caustic soda, carbonate of potash or ca'ustic potash in solution, the proportion of about five pounds of alkali to each hundred gallons of water bein quite satisfactory. One hundred gallons c this solution is about the proper amount'forone hundred pounds of waste containin 20 per cent. of fats. Upon being thoroug Ty agitated the alkali will combine with the free fatty acids, and if mineral or other oils are present, these will ,be emulsified, thereby breaking up the oohesive or binding material between the metals and minerals and the cotton or other textile fibers, he metals and grit settling to the bottom. T e fibers float by reason of the upward current created by the air or steam jets and may be removed by meansof hooks when the metals and grits are separated therefrom. The fibers may still contain oleates, stearates or palmitates of the nonalkaline metals due to the action of the fatty acids in the polishing paste used on the wheels acting on the finely divided metal remove in the polishing, also some metallic oxids an fine particles of metal. The fibers are placed in a bath containing about 10 per cent. of sulfuric or other suitable acid and an oxidizing agent such as nitric acid.

The same type of tank. having agitator jets is preferred. Theoleates, stearates and palmitates are converted into their respective acids; the metals and oxids into sulfates, any remaining grit .falls to the bottom, the fatty acids being removed by skimmlng.

'The fibers are removed from the bath. and

rinsed in' clear water, then placed in a weak' solution of alkali, then again rinsed in clear water and dried when they may be baled.

first tank are removed and treated with The metal and grit at the bottom of the acid or electrolysis to dissolve the metal;

The grit is washed in clear water, graded for fineness, and molded into paste together.

The metal may be recovered as salts such as sulfates or the process may be continued and the metal recovered through electrolysis. The fats in the alkaline solution may be converted into marketable soap or be recovered by the addition of an acid, preferably sulfuric, sufficient to give a faintly acid reaction. This is then left until the liquid separates in two layers, the upper which contains the fatty acids, fats and mineral oils, (if any) is removed to another vessel. The fats are washed with hot. Water and may then bemixed with the grits, to form polishing pastes. The lower layer contains some valueless sulfates of the alkali metals and may be thrown away.

Having now explained my invention what.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The process of treating an intimate mixture of metal, mineral grit, fatsand fibers to recover the substances separately, which consists inagitating the mixture in an alkaline solution to permit the metal and grit to separate from the fibers by gravity, removing the metal and grit and treating with acid to dissolve the metal and then removing the grit.

then treating said fibers and metals with a solution of acid to separate the fibersf 4. The process of treating fibers associ ated With mctaland fats With an alkaline agent to cause .the separation of free fatty acids, then treating the fibers with acid and an oxidizing agent to remove oleates, stearates and palmitates of the non-alkaline metals.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

VVILLIAlVl TI. ALLEN.

VVitne'sses ELIZABETH M. BROWN, EDWARD N. PAGELSEN. 

